The political downfall of Bangladesh's former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina began with a student-led uprising on August 5, 2024, setting off a chain of events that culminated in her conviction and death sentence in absentia on Monday by the International Crimes Tribunal-Bangladesh (ICT-BD).
Here is a timeline of the key developments over the 15 turbulent months following Hasina’s ouster:
August 5, 2024: Sheikh Hasina is ousted as prime minister after a mass student-led uprising and flees to India.
August 8, 2024: An interim government led by Muhammad Yunus is formed.
August 14, 2024: The interim government announces it will try those involved in the student movement killings at the International Crimes Tribunal-Bangladesh (ICT-BD).
October 2024: The interim government reconstitutes the ICT-BD.
October 17, 2024: ICT-BD issues arrest warrants against Hasina and 45 others, including senior Awami League leaders, over alleged crimes against humanity.
November 2024: The three-member tribunal, led by Golam Mortuza Majumdar, instructs investigators to complete their probe by December 2024.
February 2025: A UN fact-finding report estimates that around 1,400 people were killed during the protests.
June 1, 2025: The trial officially begins, with prosecutors framing the case as coordinated and systematic violence against unarmed civilians.
June 19, 2025: ICT appoints former Supreme Court judge AY Moshiuzzaman as amicus curiae for Hasina’s defence.
July 2, 2025: Hasina is sentenced in absentia to six months’ imprisonment for contempt of court.
July 10, 2025: ICT formally indicts Hasina, former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, and former police chief Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun on five counts of crimes against humanity, including mass killings.
August 3, 2025: The tribunal begins the trial of Hasina in absentia and her two aides over alleged crimes against humanity.
October 23, 2025: The tribunal concludes the hearings in the case.
November 13, 2025: The tribunal sets November 17 for the verdict.
November 17, 2025: ICT-BD convicts and sentences Hasina and former home minister Kamal to death in absentia for crimes against humanity, while Mamun, who became a state witness, receives a five-year prison sentence in the case.